“It’s a little scary that this dog is out there, aggressive,” said Christine Pinto.

Pinto told Eyewitness News reporter Kristin Thorne in an exclusive interview that last Thursday a white pit bull attacked him and his daughter while they were on Barnum Street in North Babylon just across the street from the Belmont Elementary School.

Her daughter was training to ride a bike when they ran into the dog who was on a leash. The dog owner was with two young children.

Pinto heard the dog’s owner screaming, that’s when the dog pulled away from the owner’s hold.

He said the dog attacked his daughter, threw her to the ground and began to surround her.

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Pinto rushed over and picked up his daughter, that’s when he said the dog bit him in the upper right thigh.

“I didn’t notice I was bleeding at first. The adrenaline was high,” he said.

Pinto said the dog’s owner struggled to grab the leash, but once he did, he asked Pinto if the dog had bitten him. Pinto told him, yes.

He said, ‘I’ll put the dog away. I’ll be right back, “” said Pinto.

He said the man headed for Monarch Avenue, turned the corner, got into a black truck and drove off. He didn’t come back.

“Just leaving says a lot about who you are,” Pinto said.

He says two witnesses called the police and Pinto was taken to hospital by ambulance.

Doctors told Pinto that they generally don’t do stitches for animal bites because they don’t want to lock in the animal’s saliva, but Pinto’s injuries were so severe they didn’t had no choice. Pinto also needs to be vaccinated against rabies.

Pinto said her daughter had grazes on her legs after being pushed off her bike, but it’s the emotional injuries that are most serious.

“She’s very traumatized. She doesn’t want to get back on her bike. She doesn’t even want to go out,” he said.

Pinto filed a police report. If you know the owner of the dog, call the Suffolk Police.

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